Nowak was sentenced in 2009 to a year of probation in the altercation after pleading guilty to burglary charges.

Since her dismissal from the astronaut corps, Nowak has been working at the Chief of Naval Air Training station in Corpus Christi, Texas. She will be demoted to commander when her retirement takes effect Sept. 1.

The "other than honorable" discharge may affect veterans' benefits for Nowak, who has been in the Navy for 20 years. A call to her mobile phone was not returned.

The decision by the Navy came after a board of inquiry heard testimony last year.

"Our goal is to make the right decision," said Lt. Alana Garas, a Navy spokeswoman. "There was a lot of material associated with this case ... and the material was fully reviewed ... and that takes time."

Nowak was sentenced in 2009 to a year of probation in the altercation after pleading guilty to burglary charges.

Since her dismissal from the astronaut corps, Nowak has been working at the Chief of Naval Air Training station in Corpus Christi, Texas. She will be demoted to commander when her retirement takes effect Sept. 1.

The "other than honorable" discharge may affect veterans' benefits for Nowak, who has been in the Navy for 20 years. A call to her mobile phone was not returned.

The decision by the Navy came after a board of inquiry heard testimony last year.

"Our goal is to make the right decision," said Lt. Alana Garas, a Navy spokeswoman. "There was a lot of material associated with this case ... and the material was fully reviewed ... and that takes time."

I am glad to see so many comments. Patrick I'm married to a wonderful Argentine lady. We lived through the sovereign default that took place in Argentina in 2001. When the default happened, it was a cataclysmic event. The Argentine peso crashed from 1 peso to the dollar to three pesos to the dollar. Unemployment shot up to Great Dperession evels of 25%-30%. Housing prices collapsed. My wife bought her condo in Buenos Aires in 1996 to $54,000 US. It collapsed to a value of $18,000 US in 2002. (This condo has now recovered in value to $100,000 US+) In all of this turmoil fortunes were made by a lucky few who purchased the distressed real estate and businesses. The human misery was without equal. People literally starved to death. Since then Argentina has had a huge economic recovery. Economic growth last year was 8%. There is life after a sovereign default. But the poor suffer immensely.

Defaulting creates huge legal hassles. The creditors would be suing and freezing assets. It would get messy!

Default essentially is a govt. bankruptcy. As we know, filing for bankruptcy generally benefits debtors financially as they can remove or reduce the debt payments. Which is why new bankruptcy laws had to be made a few years ago to limit this practice - that would hardly be needed had debtors not benefited from bankruptcy. Further, unavailability of significant loans over the next several years forces bankrupt into "balanced budget" and savings - a good habit that often continues even once the bankruptcy is deleted from the credit record and loans become available. Same happens with defaulted govts.

It is widely claimed that the US default would cause a "horrendous multidecade recession". Other defaulted countries show otherwise. The largest recent national defaults were Russia 1998 and Argentina 2001. Despite major differences between those countries and their economies, the course and outcome post-default were similar. First, a severe economic shock with abrupt drop of currency value by 3 - 4 times followed by rapid inflation led by imports and large spike of unemployment and corporate bankruptcies. The first year was rough indeed. However, by the middle of year 2 the economy stabilized and started growing, first hesitantly and then faster and faster. By year 6, the GDP and incomes (in foreign currency such as USD) have substantially exceeded the pre-default values and continued improving.

Why? First, the above effect of cancelled or reduced debt payments. But more important was dramatic currency depreciation that greatly reduced imports and increased exports. For example, if USD dropped 3 times vs. Euro or Yen, virtually all car imports would become utterly price-incompetitive and decrease by 80 - 90%. This would mean the demand for US-made autos growing ~3 times within months, plus a major gain in exports, a godsend for Detroit obviously. Typical Chinese or Indian salaries would kick from ~15% US to ~50% US, making outsourcing there immediately incompetitive, considering the productivity differential of ~3 times. Production would return to the US en masse, creating the "Mother of all economic booms". That's what happened in Russia, btw.

Of course, the import prices would also skyrocket, first of all oil. That would do in 3 yrs more for conservation (with proliferation of plug-in hybrids), nuclear energy, and public transportation/rail than 30 yrs of "fuel economy standards", tax rebates, and other govt. tinkering. Domestic energy exploration would instantly become hot over large swaths of the land, watch the ND and TX shale booms x 10.

Some say dishonoring debts is morally wrong when one can pay (aka "strategic default"). But curiously many here who see no problem with individual US homeowners defaulting and stiffing the US banks (and thus our govt. and investors) even when they could pay are aghast at us doing the same collectively to foreign bondholders. A mortgage loan is just a business deal involving risk for the lender, who did or should have considered the possibility of principal loss before lending, it is said. Then same is true for govt. debt - a lender certainly knew that govts. can and do default, and should have considered that when bying T-bills.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Wednesday was another day of work on the house. Our roofers made progress. The carpentry team installed insulation and got the new room ready for inspection again. A and H Door And Access Control came to work . They installed both garage doors and got my garage door opener working. Sadly when they reinstalled Elena's garage door opener, they knocked it out of frequency and Elena could not open it. This will have to be fixed today.

I am amazed at all of the craftsmanship that goes into making these modifications and updates to the hosue. It is also an ordeal for the home owner.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

The roofing crew arrived so early in the morning that I did not even have clothes on. I had to run and hide while dressing. The carpenters then arrived. I called the garage door contractor and he was on his way here. I moved my car out of the garage. The garage door contractor arrived and went to work taking down the old doors that are falling apart. The electricians then arrived and did all sorts of work including taking down the power for messingup my computer. We then got a visit from the building inspectors. The house was full of vehicles and people working hard. We passed all inspections!

My poor dog Copernicus had to be held on leash outside while all of the work was going on. It was a lot of pressure and disorientation for him.

The plumbers also arrived and went to work on installing the gas lines for the dryer and the water heater. I had to eat lunch while the roofing crew worked with the sky light above me. Debris fell to the table.

I decided to take Copernicus for a walk along the beach., When we came back I had him on tight leash. He still was able to bite the garage door contractor. I was embarrassed.

The crews worked late and the plumbers were the last to go. I was exhausted.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Monday started early with the arrivel of the roofing crew. They will spend this week stripping off the old roof and putting a new roof on the house. They will also replace all of the side boards that have dry rotted and give us new gutters also. The roofers helped me to haul up the sink for the wash room. Our carpenter crew arrived. John Jolivette, Jr. told me that he did not believe our fancy sink would fit correctly. He agreed to install it but was not sure that the bottom drawer that Elena loves would deploy properly. There were all sorts of noises and commotion on the roof. Copernicus went mad with all of the noise. Wired WOrks arrived next. Dave and Neil went to work on doing all of the electrical work. THe new room was full of people working. I was constantly cleaning all of the debris that found its way into the house. It was a day full of hard work. Our plumbing team from Alansi's Plumbing and rooter arrived in the late afternoon and worked until well past seven. Elena got to meet them and see al of the detail work they were doing.

This is a huge investment in time and money. I am exhausted every day. We did get the good news from CBS News that the housing market in our area is one of the few hot ones in the USA and getting as good as it was in 2006. We might recover our investment yet. This may not turn out to be "Elena's Folly!"

Saturday we went to Costco and found an innovative and different sink for the clothes washing area. We bought it and hauled it out to the parking lot. We took it out of the box in hopes that we could fit it into Elena's car. We found scratches all over it. We took it back in to returns and got our money back. We came home discouraged. Yesterday we went to Lowe's and could find nothing similar to that sink. We took a chance and went to Costco again. We got a big cart. Lo and behold, the sink we loved was still there. We loaded it onto the cart and got checked out. We hauled it out to our Saturn Vue. We saw that we were going to have to take it out of the box to load it into the car. We got out the top part with all of the hardware in it. We fitted this in through the side door. We then tried to slide the body through the back door of the car. It would not fit. We had to take down the area in the Vue with all of the drinks and bags. We got another man to help us get it into the Vue. We closed the door and were relieved. As we drove home we both realized that we were exhausted. We put the Vue in the garage. The construction crew can unload it tomorrow.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

On Friday afternoon, the latest copy of San Francisco Magazine arrived in the mail box. It was an episode devoted to food. In the back of the magazine was a big advertising section for lawyers. I got curious and decided to read it. Lo and behol, one of the ads was for the law firm of Lawless and Lawless. I looked at the picture of the managing partner and the other senior partner. The managing partner was a lady who represented me 38 years ago when I had a big problem in San Jose,California. She was a good lawyer and did the best that she could for me under the circumstances. Her name is Barbara Lawless. I met her when she was a young lawyer just out of Berkely Bolt Law School. I sent her a nice letter.

Yesterday was a beautiful day. I took Copernicus for a walk along the beach. As we started on the beach, the dog sighted a squirrel running among the rocks. A nanosecond later Copernicus sprung and killed the animal. He took it in his mouth as a trophy. He did not try to eat it. Perhaps he was not hungry. Other onlookers on the beach were fascinating by what was unfolding. Copernicus soon lost interest in the dead animal and left it on the trail. I had been taking photos with my mobile phone camera. I was not watching where I was going. I stepped in a hole. I had a nasty fall that twisted my right knee and bloodied both hands. Copernicus came to my side and was sicking me and trying to help me. I forced myself up. I was tempted to go home. I decided to continue my walk in hopes tha the walk would correct some of the pain.

I came home with the dog. The contractor was hard at work putting the roof on the replacement room in the house. We talked and he went back to work. He told me a few moments later that a UPS person was at the front door. I secured Copernicus.

I went out and talked to the UPS driver. He admitted that he was the driver who delivered my missing Omega Speedmaster watch. He told me that he was frightened of the dog. He admitted that he had thrown the package containing the watch on the porch. He did not mention that he never got my signature. He did an extensive search. We could not find the package. He offered to pay me $200 per month for the loss. It would have taken me over 8 months to collect. I rejected this suggestion. I told him that I was going to get the payment from the UPS insurance. He said that he believed that the package gad been stolen after it was delivered. He suggested that I call the police. He then left. I knew that his negligence caused theloss.

I then talked to State Fram Insurance. They set up a claim number and told me it was withithin my limit and I would not get any penalty for the claim. I was instructed to call the Pacifica Police.

I prepared a police report and called the Pacifica Police. I thought I could fax the report. Since the amount of the loss was grand theft, officers would have to come out and take a report. I gave the dispatcher my details. About an hour later Corporal V. Romero and Officer Munro showed up. They took a detailed report and a lot of documentation. They asked for pictures of the watch. I agreed to get those and bring them to the Pacifica Police headquarters.

I contacted Topper Jewelers. Robert Caplan sent me the full picture and serial number details. I printed this information. I took it over to the Pacifica Police Department.

I came home and took more calls on the loss including some of the contractors who were not happ because they were interviewed by the police.

A call came in from State Farm Insurance calims department. An excellent person took all of the details and agreed to pay me a settlement of $1,122.00. That part was fast and painless.

My friends I had an Omega Speedmaster watch from 1972 until 1992. It was stolen by a policeman in South Africa. I never got around to replacing it. Almost 20 years later I found a used Omega Speedmaster at Topper Jewelers in Burlingame. I bought it at a reasonable price. Once my check cleared the watch was sent to me by UPS. I waited for it to be delivered Friday afternoon 15 July. It never showed up and I was disappointed. When it did not show up on Monday I contacted the store. I was shocked to find that the watch had been delivered to the house Friday and someone with the initials "JB: had signed for it. Fortunately the jeweler insured the shipment. Now there is a big UPS investigation and the driver will get into trouble. Someone was very cruel and stold part of my life from me. It really hurts. Elena is also deeply upset by the whole incident.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Some chimichungas had languished in the freezer for five years. Anna used to like them but ELena and I do not care for them. I thought about donating them to the local resource center. But I was afraid that they were not edible any more. I threw them out. Yesterday morning I went out to get the newspapers. I found the trash can overturned. Sure enough, some animal had tore into the trash bag and eaten the chimchungas. This all goes to show that nothing in nature is wasted. I gave some animal a good meal!

In 1966 I was honored to be invited to his house near the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. Ralph Wallace III and his mother Kathleen Emory Wallace joined me. John was an articulate and charming man. He put us all at ease. We liked him instantly. He was very devoted to his wife Annie. HE went on to be a great US senator and the oldest man to fly in space.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

The right hand woman of Rupert Murdoch was arrested by British authorities. She is facing charges with respect to phone hacking and corruption. An arrest warrant for Rupert Murdoch will follow. Rupert is a US citizen. He could flee to the USA and possibly avoid extradition to Britain to face the phone hacking and corruption charges there. Sadly for him the US FBI has opened an investigation on him for phone hacking and similar charges. Eventually he ahd his son will be indicted. Rupert Murdoch is 80 years old and will not get a long jail sentence. His son is much younger and will get up to 5 yeaqrs int he US after having been convicted.

My advice to Rupert Murdoch and his son is that they should flee to the United Arab Emirates and prepare for their retirement in this dessert oasis. They are finished in the US and the rest of the civilized world.

My readers buy News Corp shares in this depressed situation. They will make money as new management replaces the Murdochs.

I subscribe to Hulu. It is a movie and TV service that competes with Netflix. This service has these great little fims that never were commercial successes. I am watching one such film-The Brycreem Boys. It was made in 1998. I thought I was an expert on World War II history but I learned something new. A number of Allied and Nazi sailors and airmen bungled onto Irish soil. Ireland was neutral in World War II. But when a military person from one of the combatants showed up, they were taken prisoner. They were held until the end of the war. I am sure that some South Africans experienced this. If an allied POW made their way out of the camp and to Northern Ireland, they were returned to the authorities in Ireland. The Bristish were concerned that Ireland would come into the war on the side of the Nazis and they cooperated with this imprisonment of their military personnel.

Monday, July 11, 2011

We are in a huge political crisis about raising of the US det ceiling. The US Republican party is demanding massive spending cuts in the trillions of dollars to agree to increase the national debt. It is very possible that no agreement will be reached with President Obama. The debt ceiling will remain just what it is now.

We hear all sorts of dire warnings that the US could default on its bonds and lose its status as the reserve currency of the world. According to this threat, the US will lose its "full faith and credit of the US government" for the first time in its 235 year history. There are warnings that even a mini default lasting a few nanoseconds could destroy the credit rating of the US and turn this country into another Greece.

"Bot on my watch" is a saying that people in positions of responsibilit understand well. President Obama knows the saying well. He will not allow himself to go down in history as the president who let the US government default and lose its credit rating. AT ALL COSTS THE MONEY WILL BE FOUND TO PAY THE DEBTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What will happen is that there will be massive "robbing Peter to pay Paul." Money will taken from many places in the US budget to pay the debts. Social Security will be one of the places that they take money from. Many senior citizens in the US depend on their monthly Social Security check for survival. A lot of these dependents could find their Social Security check cut down or cut off all together for several months.

Senior citizens are the most politically-active segmanet of the US voters. When Social Security gets cutm they will get very angry. This anger will be taken out on the politicians. They will be mad at the whole political structure. I suspect that every incumbent could find themselves in trouble when the 2012 elections come around.

The economy will also slip back into another recessiona s all of the money is taken out of the economy.
There could be a market panic. Investors would find other places of safety aside from the US dollar. Gold and the Swiss Franc come to mind.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Over 20 years ago, I was riding down a country road in Gauteng. I saw an African man riding a wood cart with car tyres. The cart was being pulled by a horse. The older man had not a care in the world. I have never felt such profound peace like I felt at that moment. I realized that I was at the place where all of we humans came from.

It's The 4th of July-Hug A French Person

Today is the 4th of July. 30,000 American colonists died to get this country started. The new Continental Congress ran up a debt of $115 million dollars to pay for our war of independence. We were lucky to have pulled it off. Britain was preoccupied with the war with Napoleon. General Wellington and their best resources were used to stop Napoleon. Had it not been for the French, we might not have got our independence.

About Me

When I was a very young man I had an incredible grandmother named Sarah Elizabeth Walters. She told me the following words: "Son don't let the grass grow under your feet." I took those words to heart and went out to see the world. My life has been ana adventure all over the world. I have lived on six of the seven continents. I have been lucky to live this long.